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Hi All, Could you please take the time to check and update the email address associated with your account, we are seeing a number of bounces for active members.
Nath.

Some larger organised events where people can meet and put faces to names and look at motorcycles.

I know this opens a whole can of worms for organisation and other logistic issues.

This. I don't think the logistics and organisation are too much of a problem, if people are keen on it happening then they will help out and people who are keen and are naturally adept at organising will probably step up to the plate. It's a good idea and would also cater for learners who aren't comfortable on group rides or other people who aren't keen on group rides for various reasons.

Everything has its heyday, and to be blunt, I think PSB has seen it's come and go.
There was a while here, where the Perth bike community really was represented on PSB.
The rides were a lot more ad hoc and there was almost always a bunch of peeps at scabs on a friday night if you felt like a blat.

A lot of the community pillars, that really made this place an engaging place to stay, have grown up and moved on.
I feel that the next gen of these guys were probably nipped in the bud by aggro forum users screaming to preserve their beige, boring, circlejerking, tired conversations, before the new blood had the chance to settle in.

It's probably a controversial view, but I think people like Camel Salesman, etc were inline to become the next Desmo(no offense Jim).
There is no denying that communities are built around polarising personalities, and in something as transient as a web forum, it's easy to move from place to place.
If you're made excessively unwelcome, you just go elsewhere.

I'm not saying CS and his ilk would necessarily have become community icons(like them or hate them), but the way they were treated would certainly have made the more interesting people keep their heads down or go elsewhere.
It was almost reminiscent of the circle of shame malarkey that the big dicks in the "noob friendly" rides occasionally took upon themselves to institute on hapless learner riders

So, on to what i'm getting at;
-This place became boring for a long enough period of time that people just stopped coming back.
-I have no idea if this has improved because I check this place maybe once every month or so.
-This borningness was achieved by a bunch the more vocal users themselves.
-The community needs a way to become more exciting and continuously evolve.

This leads me to the following recommendations:
Reinstate the Like and Rep Systems.(This is a good way of instantly gauging the tone of a thread or the validity of an opinion)
Moderate impartially.(It's easy to pull out the ban hammer as a mod, but all too often in the past, moderation actions have just gone along with whatever is going to the most cheers from the old(stale) guard.)
Bring back the merch.(You can't drum up numbers unless your name is out there, most of the young riders i talk to have no idea about this place)
Don't preach and don't be boring.(So many users on here just pump out the same shit "wisdom" over and again. Whatever happened to letting people be. If I want to ride down hay street in the wet wearing just a jockstrap while doing the Christ(Hi Ira), then I don't need to be told that it's a bad idea in the myriad uncreative ways that people repeat the ATGATT and road conditions mantras)
Implement a system that reads your posts back to your before you post them.(ok, this one is a joke, I just want to see how Jamathi would react to it)

TL;DR: The community killed PSB by being too shit(in general), be less shit. Give the community the tools to grow and largely self govern.

Last edited by Kryzaach; 13-07-2015 at 02:09 PM.

"In all the human societies we have ever reviewed, in every age and in every state, there has seldom if ever been a shortage of eager young males prepared to kill and die to preserve the security, comfort and prejudices of their elders, and what you call heroism is just an expression of this fact; there is never a scarcity of idiots." -The Culture

Bring back the merch.(You can't drum up numbers unless your name is out there, most of the young riders i talk to have no idea about this place)
.

Actually this is a great point and one I'd forgotten. I've recently had the opportunity to meet a number of other riders through means other than the forums (both learners and experienced/long time riders) and literally not one of them had heard of PSB. I've encouraged a few to sign up and get in the loop with rides etc but whether they will or not, I dunno.

I have never really socialized much with folks from PSB back in the day and now I wish I had because there were some great characters and stories of legendary feats at the parties. Oh well, I missed that boat. However I still would like to meet some stalwarts, put faces to the names, talk shit and kick some tires. I had an idea last year to have the 'PSB summer BBQ season' and try to organize some fun days at the beach. Bring the bikes or bring the family, kids and dogs, footballs party games, eskys full of iced bevvies, music and just chill for an afternoon getting to know some posters personally. We could do one up north near Scabs, one south, maybe Coogee, one in the hills. Just an idea.

Some larger organised events where people can meet and put faces to names and look at motorcycles.

Hmm...great idea but on the couple of occasions I have attended PSB events each Cliche talks to themselves and the new people just get the Up-and-Down once over. Much like being a newbie on a ride where you shuffle your feet and hope someone will come and introduce themselves to the new person and welcome them into the community.
PSB has killed itself by being a bunch of stuck up cunts who act like a bunch of elites to a large extent...and not just on the forum. Now that's not to say that everyone is like that but it isn't a warm feel...I think that is reflected in the way people are jumped on for asking simple help-questions.
I still remember attending my first PSB ride...not very friendly...but I have never forgotten the 1-2 people who went out of their way to say hello and welcome me along.
Maybe that is just a reflection of how society is...not sure.

I'm sure to come in for some, "Stop your sooking" for that but...anyway...as a result I stopped bothering. Sad really as I wanted to join-in/get-involved with the community. These days if I meet new people I do it on rides, at least that way we both know we ride not just used to.

The forum seems to be forgotten by the people in charge, or it feel like it is being allowed to run itself down, and so I haven't been paying to be a supporter because I feel like the big drive for new supporters was a bit of BS that resulted in nothing happening despite talk of improvements.

PSB is still a great place to come for reference material and a bit of banter but it feels like it's just an internet forum rather than a community.

All I've got and more for #294...RIP Chris Adley#158...RIP James Thompson

Well once it became shit dribble with threads such as "Are Parker pens any good?", "What is the best blender to buy?", it pretty much became irrelevant...

Trying to keep the "Motorcycle Topics" alive with useful information was the only way to try and save it...

Other forums I am a member of that are big and work are information based, not shit dribbling...

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by =Maz=

Hmm...great idea but on the couple of occasions I have attended PSB events each Cliche talks to themselves and the new people just get the Up-and-Down once over. Much like being a newbie on a ride where you shuffle your feet and hope someone will come and introduce themselves to the new person and welcome them into the community.

Here's one; make it relevant to motorcycles again. The project section is under-utilised, there's little use of the How to section and there seems to be little scope for educating the newer riders or mechanically inept.

Sure, we're not all into working on our bikes but a shit load of us are. Maybe make a section relevant to mods/maintenance on particular areas; for example a brakes section, where people can discuss upgrades, pads, rotors, fluids etc. Then a Cosmetic section, where people can discuss cosmetic mods such as mirrors, LED's, paintwork etc.

I'd suggest the following sections: Engine, Suspension, Brakes, Wheels/Tyres, Cosmetic. That way rather than lumping any random questions into the General bike section they are all stored together. And if someone wants to improve an aspect of their bike, they know exactly where to look to see what others have discussed.

Edit: And how about sub forums for people other than the "Italiano" or two strokers?! Let the Honda guys buttfuck in their own area, and the Kwakka guys discuss how to make their bikes less ugly etc.

I'd suggest the following sections: Engine, Suspension, Brakes, Wheels/Tyres, Cosmetic. That way rather than lumping any random questions into the General bike section they are all stored together.

Given most of the current generation don't do any of their own work and very few people significantly modify their bikes, you'll end up with a whole slew of sub-forums with no activity in them rather than one with minimal action (Projects).

Much of the "where to find" is covered by having a search engine that works and appropriate titles on topics (pet hate: if you title your thread something like "question", i'd like to stab you in the eye with a rusty fork...)

edit:
contrary to the above, i'd cut down the number of forums.

"welcome"
"rides"
"tech"
"roadside assist"
"bike chat"
"off topic"

the rest is just irrelevant divisive classification that doesn't need to exist.

I still remember attending my first PSB ride...not very friendly...but I have never forgotten the 1-2 people who went out of their way to say hello and welcome me along.

I remember being shit scared from falling back from the front of the ride all the way to near the back, and frozen from the cold(wearing summer gloves on a winter night). I do remember meeting you though on my first ride, and commenting on how long and impossible to remember your username was

I haven't gone on a PSB group ride in a long time. The last one I was on was the xmas ride. I still ride every day and have small group rides with people I've met through the forum and friends. I'm still on PSB relatively regularly, usually to talk shit.

I would be unable to put a face to most of the names I see pop up regularly on threads nowadays and I doubt most people could do the same for me. And that's OK. PSB has changed, and so have most of us. Some don't ride on the street anymore, some don't ride at all.

The forum lack of features is annoying, but personally, giving it more wiz-bang features won't do much. What we WANT PSB to be probably won't change anything, PSB will be whatever PSB is.

If you love your motorcycle, set it free. If it comes back, you probably high-sided.

I know that for PSB once the OP is up that the threads can go anywhere, but could I ask that the merit of a particular suggestion not be discussed within this thread? Once the suggestions are gathered, seperate threads will be created for further feedback and discussion as to the merits of different suggestions.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't mention something that's been posted previously, I'm just asking that the pro's and con's not be part of this thread for ease of tracking and compiling the suggestions...

Based on this, some of the posts have been archived for addition to future threads.

Also at this stage assume that there is going to be someone interested and actively on the forum to drive all these changes...

PSB needs to become a club, run by a committee, holding events attended by active members. The forum should be secondary, somewhere for the members to catch up.

You want a friendly forum, with self-moderation and banter? You're only going to get that feeling again if the people posting actually know and respect each-other, which is best achieved in person. I could forgive a club for not having the most up-to-date forum, if it was a secondary consideration.

There's still time to get something up and running for this year's Motorcycle and Scooter show, to draw interest and raise our profile. I did a Google search for Motorbike forums last night (Chrome, on my phone) - we were page 5.

Well, I am as guilty of sending psb this way as I am of fighting to keep what is good going...the social aspect of riding. Not many do/still do rides open to strangers to come have a good time and meet some others. Those that do get the rides flooded. Then abused for the organisation. That then scares off the riders from attending and the organisers from organising. Those that keep going keep getting the same replies.
Can't stop people having opinions on the net tho.

Bring on summer, all will be forgiven.

yes, i am ignorant
yes, i am a prick
no, i don't care
you make me sick